Ricky, who has died aged 46, rose from the terraces of Hyde to become one of the best British boxers of his generation – winning seven world titles and army of fans.
They called him The Hitman, because of the ferocious fists that downed some of the best boxers in the game.
Ricky Hatton was just as much of a fighter outside of the ring, facing his personal demons with unflinching bravery and honesty. He rose from the terraces of Hyde to become one of the best British boxers of his generation – winning seven world titles and army of fans.
Along the way he went toe to toe with depression and addictions to booze and drugs, and faced the brutal comedown of early retirement. The former carpet fitter lost three fights, two to men counted among the very best of all time.
Yesterday shocked boxing fans were mourning a unique working-class hero, tragically gone too soon at the age of just 46.
Born in Stockport in October 1978, Ricky grew up on the Hattersley estate in the Tameside area of Greater Manchester. His mum and dad, Carol and Ray, owned four pubs, including the one they lived in. As a young lad, Ricky helped behind the bar for pocket money, along with brother Matthew. His first hero, Bruce Lee, inspired him to take up kick-boxing. But by the age of 11 he had switched to boxing, quickly becoming one of the brightest prospects ever to walk through the doors of Billy Graham’s gym in Moss Side.
“I discovered my talent was in my fists and not in my feet,” Ricky once recalled. After winning his first schoolboy titled aged 14, Ricky’s parents built him a gym in the pub basement, coming down to cheer him on his pummelled his punch bag.
His father and grandfather had both played for Manchester City reserves, and Ricky had trials with the youth team at the club he loved. City’s anthem, Blue Moon, remained his ring walk-on song throughout his career.
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Fellow City fans Liam and Noel Gallagher carried his belts into the ring for a fight in Las Vegas in 2008. Ricky left school too young to turn pro, and his dad made him work as a labourer in his new carpet-fitting business. Ray once recalled: “The trouble was, he was crap. He was the worst carpet-fitter ever. He’d work hard but he just wasn’t any good.
“One time he nearly chopped a finger off. When I arrived at the scene he had plasters covering all four of his digits and was even whiter than he usually is.” When he put Ricky in charge of the family’s newly opened carpet shop, “he had it for 18 months and never made a penny”.
Ray added:. “He’d often sell carpets for what I paid for them, and if an old lady came in they would always get a special discount.” In the ring he gave nothing away. In his teens he earned a reputation for deceptive speed, a thunderous left hook and punishing body shots.
He turned professional in September 1997 under promoter Frank Warren, debuting at Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes. Soon fans were filling arenas to see him, not just for the volume of punches he threw, but also because they loved his down to earth nature.
He liked a beer, he loved Man City, and he like Only Fools and Horses so much he even bought one of Del Boy’s vans. Ricky’s crowning achievement came in 2005, when he beat Kostya Tszyu in front of 20,000 fans at Manchester’s MEN Arena to claim the IBF light-welterweight title. It is still regarded as one of the finest in British boxing history.
The win catapulted him to global stardom, leading to headline clashes against the best. Two years later, Ricky threw a devastating body shot that crumpled Mexican legend Jose Luis Castillo, setting up a Vegas clash with Floyd Mayweather Jr – then the world’s best fighter.
When he walked to ring at the MGM Grand, watched by tens of millions worldwide, Ricky’s robe carried an advert for his dad’s carpet shop. Though he lost, true to form, he won hearts mocking Mayweather. “I’ve missed my six-year-old son,” he told the crowd.
“But I probably haven’t missed him quite as much as you would think because I’ve had the misfortune to spend the full week with another f*****g six-year-old.” Two years later he suffered a devastating second round knockout by Manny Pacquiao which signalled the end of his career was close. He retired in 2012.
In victory or defeat, he always headed back to the New Inn in Hattersley for his “s***t shirt party” and several pints of Guinness. But as well as good times, alcohol brought dark times. After the Mayweather loss – his first defeat as a pro – he spiralled. He later admitted to multiple suicide attempts, saying he felt deeply depressed.
“I was always very depressed, even when I was a youngster,” he admitted. “And then I had loads of success at boxing and then I didn’t. First time I had my defeat, it was hard to come to terms with.”
Perhaps the most painful wound was a devastating, decade-long rift with his parents, who had supported him so much as a child. After they fell out over money resulting in an ugly fight with his dad in a car park in 2012, he admitted: “I hit rock bottom. I didn’t care whether I lived or died.”
There were more blows: a public falling out with trainer Billy Graham, and a newspaper sting allegedly showing Ricky using cocaine. He spoke candidly about his struggles with depression, alcohol and the disorienting void left by the end of a glittering career.
While he would be seen partying hard during nights out in Manchester, he admitted he would go home and cry. “When you’ve had 40,000 fans cheering you on, when it’s suddenly gone, it’s hard,” he said. “When you’ve experienced that kind of loss in your personal life. And when it happens in your sporting life, it’s a double impact.”
The birth in 2012 of daughter Millie, with his ex Jennifer Dooley, helped get him back on track – and make up with his own parents. “I held her in the hospital and I thought to myself, ‘It’s not about you, it’s about others’,” he remembered.
He sought help for his mental health and found meaning training young boxers, while seeing his own son Campbell follow in his footsteps and turn pro. Soon after his 40th birthday, he became a grandfather to Campbell’s daughter, Lyla.
Last year, following a Sky documentary about his life, Ricky appeared on Dancing on Ice, and embarked on a brief relationship with fellow contestant, actress Claire Sweeney.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, and had even announced a return to the ring this December in Dubai. It is a comeback the world will now never see.
Ricky is survived by his children Millie, Fearne and Campbell and granddaughter Lyla.